Profile

Founded by Antonio Gracias in 1995, Valor deploys an operational growth investment strategy focused on identifying, investing in, and operationally supporting companies transforming their industries. Valor seeks to identify and select high-growth, pro-entropic companies where the transition to a technology-enabled economy is an important growth driver. Valor defines a “pro- entropic” company as a business demonstrating the ability to perform and grow across economic and market cycles, unexpected developments, and uncertainty. The firm’s operational growth funds focus on businesses that Valor believes have achieved an inflection point in their ability to scale and are well positioned to achieve their market, revenue, and operational goals.

Valor looks to build value through tangible operating improvements by utilizing Valor’s in-house operations team, the “Scale Group.” This team utilizes operational tools and resources (lean, quality systems, growth, and data science) to enhance return potential, provide support, and further develop an information advantage. Valor’s Scale Group is known for its hands-on approach to providing operational support to the companies in which the firm invests and has been recognized for its operational work. The combination of extensive entrepreneurial and management experience with deep investment expertise uniquely positions Valor to execute its operational growth strategy.

As of September 30, 2023, Valor actively manages over $15.5 billion of capital.

Awards

2023 Top Growth Equity Firms

Key People

The Partners at Valor have an average tenure of over 18 years at the firm. Please find below a summary of Firm management.

Antonio Gracias, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer

Antonio is a proven investor and entrepreneur who partners with many of the defining founders and CEOs of our time as they seek to reimagine what is possible while making the world better. As the Founder, CEO, and CIO of Valor Equity Partners, Antonio oversees one of the leading growth focused private equity firms in the United States with over $15.5 billion in assets under management. A supportive investor, Antonio is recognized as an impactful and thoughtful contributor to the strategy and operations of businesses across industries and sectors. Notably, Antonio was a Director of Tesla from 2007 to 2021. During his tenure, he helped take Tesla public and served as Lead Independent Director for eight years. In addition to his work at Tesla, Antonio plays an important role helping numerous Valor investments innovate and succeed.

Jonathan Shulkin – Partner, Co-President, and VSV Fund Manager

Jon is a Partner and Co-President of Valor and the Fund Manager for Valor Siren Ventures (VSV). He serves as a member of all Valor Investment Committees. Jon has over 20 years of experience in private equity investing. Jon’s responsibilities include fund management for VSV I and II, as well as investment prospect generation, due diligence of potential investments, investment structuring and execution, and capital raising for Valor’s growth funds and VSV. Jon oversees Valor’s Scale Group, Finance, and People Teams.

Juan Sabater – Partner and Co-President

Juan is a Partner and Co-President of Valor and is primarily responsible for its capital raise and client service functions. In addition, Juan focuses on investment prospect generation, due diligence of potential investments, and investment structuring and execution. Juan serves as a member of all Valor Investment Committees and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Harmony Biosciences and Addepar, and as a Board Observer for Dataminr and BlueVoyant. Juan has been involved with Valor since 2008. Juan was appointed by President Joseph Biden to serve as a Member on the Board of Visitors of the United States Military Academy and was recently appointed by President Biden to the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico.

Five experienced professionals join Antonio, Jon, and Juan in the management of the firm and its investments:

• Timothy Watkins, Operating Partner
  • Joined Valor’s predecessor firm in 1999.
  • 30+ years of experience in operational change management and private equity investing.
  • Founded and served as a Principal Consultant for Westworks Ltd., a consulting organization for lean implementation at businesses.
• David Heskett, Operating Partner
  • Originally joined Valor in 2003.
  • Nearly 20 years of experience leading operational improvement and finance- focused projects.
  • Previously served as CEO of Life Care Partners and Interim CEO of Manduka.
• Bradley Sheftel, Investment Partner
  • Joined Valor in 2005.
  • 20+ years of experience in investment banking and private equity investing.
  • Prior to Valor, worked at J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. in its New York-based Syndicated & Leveraged Finance Group.
• Christopher Murphy, Investment Partner
  • Joined Valor in 2011.
  • 20+ years of experience leading strategy, business, and market research efforts.
  • Leads Valor’s research function.
  • Co-founded Pipal Research Corporation, a Chicago-based business research and analytics firm.
  • Formerly with McKinsey & Company
• Vivek Pattipati, Investment Partner and Growth Fund IC member
  • Joined Valor in 2017.
  • 10+ years of experience in investment banking and private equity investing.
  • Served as a Director at Madison Dearborn Partners, after starting his career at Goldman Sachs.

Please reference Valor’s website for further details on all members of Valor’s senior team.

Funds Raised

Valor has engaged its operational growth investment strategy for over 25 years across six operational growth funds, an opportunity fund, and two venture capital funds. In executing its operationally focused growth strategy, Valor backs companies that it believes have achieved an inflection point in their ability to scale and are well positioned to continue to achieve their market, revenue, and operating goals. As of September 30, 2023, Valor has completed over 140 growth equity and venture capital platform investments and, over the last ten years, has raised over $7.0 billion in growth and venture fund capital (not including co-investments and managed accounts).

Fund VI is currently in market and remains open for one LP who is in active diligence. Fund VI will hold its final close in June 2024.

Fund VI is early in its life and is currently in its J-curve. Accordingly, fund-level net performance has been impacted by the effect of early investments

Key Investments

In each case, Valor worked closely with their management teams to support their growth and other initiatives.

Addepar(s): Invested 2014

Addepar’s core product offering is focused on providing advanced financial reporting tools targeting high net worth individuals and institutions through its superior technology platform and value-added data management services.

Anduril: Invested July 2020

Anduril is a product-oriented security technology company that leverages advanced commercial hardware and software for defensive and national security purposes.

Coalition: Invested January 2020

Coalition is a disruptive cybersecurity managing general agent that performs underwriting, claims, and incident response services.

Crusoe: Invested November 2020

Crusoe unlocks value from stranded energy through computation. Applying patented Digital Flare Mitigation technology to convert otherwise wasted natural gas (e.g., methane) into electricity for energy-intensive computing at the wellhead.

Gopuff(s): Invested January 2018

Gopuff is an on-demand virtual convenience store that allows customers to purchase items for delivery in 30 minutes or less through a mobile application.

Harmony Biosciences(s): Invested 2017

Harmony Biosciences is a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for patients living with rare neurological diseases, as well as patients living with other neurological diseases who have unmet medical needs.

Misfits Market: Invested March 2020

Misfits Market is an online direct-to-consumer grocery delivery provider selling high quality food, beginning with “misfit” produce, at a 20-25% discount to traditional grocery stores.

SpaceX: Invested July 2008

SpaceX designs, manufactures, launches, and operates advanced rockets, spacecraft, and satellites that are increasing the reliability and performance of space transportation and infrastructure.

Zipline: Invested April 2023

Zipline is designing, manufacturing, and operating the world’s largest autonomous, drone-based delivery system to serve all humans equally and add resilience to global supply chains.

CEO Reviews

Cully Cavness, Co-Founder of Crusoe

“…I would advise any portfolio company executive to over-index on showing Valor your most complex challenges and problems. They will work with you to solve those problems rather than hold them against you. In the end, this process strengthens your shared relationships and creates a lot of business value.”

Abhi Ramesh, Founder & CEO of Misfits Market

“… The Valor team has been a pivotal part of our organization over the past few months and has helped to build some of the most foundational pillars of our fulfillment & inventory processes. All of this…during a time of uncertainty and chaos with COVID + our growth trajectory. [We]…really know how challenging this project truly was! So … a huge thank you from our team to yours. It has been an honor to work alongside you.”

Eric Poirier, CEO of Addepar

“Valor helped us put a fine point on how to identify a complex operational problem and simplify it, stack the right people against it, all within technology and a process that works and scales.”

Mike Belshe, Co-Founder & CEO of Bitgo

“The Valor Team’s commitment to materially helping their portfolio companies above and beyond their investment is real and tangible. They exceeded my expectations in every way and brought in real resources to help us grow and scale. I’m blown away by the willingness to help and the incredible talent and experience Valor brought to us.”

Orazio Buzza, Founder and CEO of Fooda

“Valor is an extension of our team. They had deep industry knowledge and a thesis before they met us. The conviction they brought to the table when we decided to partner together has evolved with the business and they have been instrumental in the results. The business has grown significantly since we partnered with Valor and the ability to scale was driven by key decisions in technology and go-to-market strategy that were directly attributable to Jon and Antonio.”